Twins Effect
by inexile
Summary: Dexter NCIS crossover. Dexter and Ziva are thrown together by fate, to combat a threat to humanity.


Twins Effect

This occurs some time between seasons two and three.

Dexter had just finished the soothing morning ritual of passing out doughnuts and settled into the chair in his lab to check his email. As soon as he opened the message from his friend at .gov his peaceful space was shattered by as much ear splitting noise as the tinny speakers on his laptop could produce. Wincing, he closed the attachment he had inadvertently clicked on. It seemed that Plastic Death had a new single out, and his good friend Abby wanted to make sure he did not miss this momentous and almost literally earth shattering event.

He had met Abby Sciuto at a conference a few years ago. She was a forensic specialist at some obscure government agency with confusing initials, and a really good bowler. An overwhelmingly friendly and outgoing person, with a unique personal style, she had thus far failed to notice that he was something other that a normal human. He often thought it was ironic, the fact that when people looked at the two of them together it would be she, with her tattoos and Gothic clothing, that would be the one they identified as "odd". Their ongoing friendship had caused him to develop a few previously unexplored hidden talents. For example, after all this time of corresponding with Abby, Dexter had finally gotten to the point where he could listen to Plastic Death for brief periods without developing anything more than a mild headache.

After making sure the sound was turned off on his laptop, Dexter proceeded to read the rest of Abby's as usual difficult to understand message. The lovely Goth generally wrote in flights of ideas, unless she was documenting evidence, at which point her prose became as clear and hard as crystal. From the jumble of disjointed information presented in her missive it seemed that a group of her coworkers was coming here to Miami to investigate something and it might involve his department. He wasn't even entirely sure what they did there at NCIS or NCSI or whatever it was, but if her oft rhapsodized about boss, Gibbs, had the supernatural powers she ascribed to him, he had a feeling he had better stay well away from any investigation this man with the amazing "gut" was working on. He did not want Abby's boss developing any intestinal intuitions about one Dexter Morgan, blood splatter expert and ... serial killer.

Meanwhile, in Virgina...

"Boss!" McGee exclaimed with an edge of hysteria in his voice "the Lazarus Project" is classified. Very classified". "We know that McGeek" Tony sneered, peering over the poor computer expert's shoulder "now do what ever voodoo it is that you do and get us the information". "Not necessary" said Ziva coolly. "What?!" McGee squeaked. "I've just gotten a report in from Stockholm, Ducky is looking over it now" Ziva replied calmly.

The team walked into the autopsy area. Dr. Mallard was looking very strained. "What is it, Ducky?" said Gibbs, quickly picking up on the doctor's distress. "This is serious, Jethro, very serious" Dr. Mallard said as he glanced again through the papers before him. "I told you so" said McGee to Tony. At which point Gibbs hit Tony in the back of the head. "But Boss, he...never mind" Tony trailed off as Gibbs glared at him. Dr. Mallard cleared his throat "the Lazarus Project is a biowarfare agent. It was developed from the corpses of hemorrhagic flu victims, buried in the permafrost. You would not believe how well permafrost preserves human remains, why I was on an expedition in Antarctica..." then the doctor trailed off as Gibbs glared at him. "This is quite serious, if it falls into the wrong hands it could be used to kill millions of people, it could alter the balance of world power". "Well, then we just have to get it back" said Gibbs calmly. "Let's go!" And he strode out of the autopsy suite before the others even had time to respond. Ziva lingered behind for a minute, glancing over the paperwork. When she looked up, she appeared thoughtful.

Back in Miami Debs was talking. And talking. "We thought at first it was a drug deal gone bad. Two Marines killed with enough fire power to wipe out a platoon. Then Batista found all those science papers in that empty case and called the Center for Disease Control. You know how Batista is. And they sent all these guys buy there in Moon suits and made us take showers and sign papers swearing we would never talk about what we saw" "So now you're talking about it" Dexter interjected wearily. "But you're my broth-ER" Debs replied, with heavy emphasis on the second syllable, as though our relationship somehow justified breaking Federal law. "And then they turned the whole case over to some agency I've never fucking heard of in DC, they wouldn't even let the local military investigators touch it" she finished. "NCIS" Dexter added. "NCIS? Deb responded "how did you know?" "I know someone who works there. They say the team that is being sent down is supposed to connect with our department on the case." "I hope they're not dicks" Deb said "this case is really weird. I'd like to find out what's going on".

Later, at a nondescript apartment complex in a rundown area of Miami, Gibbs and LaGuerta are attempting to communicate. From their expressions, the conversation is not going well. "I don't care if your experts have been over the scene; my people need to go over it again. We're not just going to read your reports" Gibbs says firmly. LaGuerta looks daggers at him. In the apartment, Masuka is leering at Ziva, who is leaning over a couch taking pictures. When she is barely out of earshot Masuka turns to Tony and asks "man, did you ever get a piece of that hot JAP?" McGee over hears and says confusedly "But Ziva is not Japanese". "He means Jewish American Princess, McGeek" Tony explains, then adds "If Ziva hears you talking like that about her, you're going to be a lot shorter" Tony glares down at Masuka, who blushes.

That night Dexter was presented with one of those pieces of dumb luck which is such a potent motivator in human behavior. He'd been stalking a sleazy serial rapist and alcoholic quack doctor named Marc Adler for some time. Despite the fact the mythic Gibbs and his team were in town, tonight was the night to make his move. Tonight was the night he had to make his move. As a med student Marc had strangled a college freshman back in the 70's. After he got off because the defense pled "rough sex", he'd made strangling women a part time job. Only he'd been more careful than that first time-- but not careful enough to keep off of Dexter's radar. Tonight the Dark Passenger would be driving. Only when Marc came to on the table, he started to talk. Not the usual boring "trying to bribe his way out of death" babble Dexter was used to but a story of a big heist, big plans, a big bad nightmare. The biggest. The apocalypse. Marc helpfully named two brothers, said they set everything up, but now they were on the run from the top boss who had turned on them. Marc had patched them up after the hit. They told him things, things no one should have to hear. He had to share with somebody before he died. Dexter got to be the unlucky recipient of the doctor's churning angst. It was a long story, worthy of Michael Crichton with a touch of Left Behind. But it ended the way all stories did once Dexter had someone duct taped to a table -- with peace and quiet and lots of blood.

In Virginia, Abby made an interesting discovery. At first she had thought that the blood which did not match the victims all came from one person. But then one of the samples proved to be identical but ...different.

"Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed into the speaker phone. "I though there was one of them ... and there was one of them, but now there is two of them!" Gibbs sighed. He was used to Abby's disjointed reasoning and bad grammar. "The blood, it's the same DNA, but it's from two people! They were twins -- only one of them had a blood transfusion recently. He has the same DNA, but he has antibodies to the donor blood which his brother does not. You're looking for two shooters, identical twins!" "I'm running their DNA through the database now. I'll call you back if I get a match." Gibbs hung up, smiling. Abby always came through.

An hour later, Abby got a call from Ziva. "If you get a match on the DNA call me. Gibbs is ... busy" she said. "I just got one!" "A hit!" Abby exclaimed excitedly. "I know SO much about these guys…" Ziva scribbled notes as Abby talked.

The next night Dexter went looking for the two brothers. What he did not know was that someone else was looking, too. Someone with skills to match Dexter's.

It was near dawn when Dexter finished. He felt sick. What the one brother he had found had told him was enough to sicken anybody, even a hardened killer. Dexter was a killer, but the idea of killing hundreds of thousands of people in cold blood repulsed him. Hundreds of thousands of people over a proper span of time, with the correct tools, that might be acceptable. But in this heartless, soulless, sterile, meaningless no contact sort of way … Dexter shuddered. He knew where he had to go and what he had to do.

The boatyard was quiet. Dexter cut the lock and carefully opened the gate. Then he felt the small pinpoint prick and looked down. There was a dart sticking out of his leg. A tranquilizer dart. "Damn" he thought as he crumpled to the ground.

Dexter woke up in a boat. He was sitting in a couple of inches of foul bilge water, tied to someone. The boat was moving. It was dark in the hold, but light was peeking through the cracks. He must've been out for a while. "Are you awake?" a mildly accented woman's voice asked from behind him. "I think so" Dexter answered, shaking the last cobwebs of tranquilizer out of his head "who are you, how did we get here?" "I might ask the same" the oddly calm voice continued. Dexter's mind raced.... "I'm...I'm Sean Ellis...I uh... I work with an, uh, agency..., I was following a lead on a very important case" he sputtered to a halt, cursing himself for being such a poor liar." "I'm Ziva David, I work with NCIS, I was doing the same thing" Dexter paused to digest this. "How did you know they were at the boat yard?" "I found one of the brothers and tortured him" Ziva answered with startling candor. Dexter was silent, thinking, funny, that is what I did. "And he told you about the virus" he finally asked. "Yes" she answered. They were both quiet. "We have to do something" Dexter finally said. "Yes" answered Ziva. For a woman, Agent David did not talk much, Dexter thought.

Tony was working his way through the crime scene, after complaining about Ziva not showing up yet. "So these two guys break in, open fire, turn our Marines into hamburger steal the virus, but then, on the way out, somebody shoots both of them?" "Tying up loose ends" Gibbs adds laconically. "But they got away" McGee added "the blood trail shows that they ran to a vehicle here (McGee stops where the shooter's vehicle was parked) and drove off". "We need to find the shooters" Tony said. "You think?" Gibbs replied. "Has anyone heard from Abby today?" McGee asked "the DNA is our best bet. Maybe we should call her?"

The enclosed darkness of the boat, sitting in the scummy warm water was reminding Dexter more and more of the cargo container where his mother died. He and Ziva had been working at the ropes for hours, quietly struggling. Whoever tied them up was an expert. Finally he said "this isn't working, we're not going to get lose". "I know" said Ziva. "You're pretty calm" Dexter observed. "I'm a trained Mossad agent, we are taught to be calm" she answered with a glimmer of pride. "So you...kill people?" Dexter inquired somewhat timidly. "Sometimes" was Ziva's laconic reply. "I kill people, too" he thought to himself. But not with government sanction. "I wonder if she has dental insurance?" he pondered.

Gibbs was on the phone to Deputy Director David. He was very, very angry. "When Ziva came to work as part of my team she was supposed to be on MY team, not yours!" The Director David answered with some feeling "this threat is bigger than your team, or my team" "Well, Ziva is missing, and so are our only leads. If this thing is so big maybe you should've filled me in on it, because right now it looks like its all going to blow up in your face" Gibbs slammed the phone shut and threw it across the room. McGee flinched and tried to look like he was busy. Tony looked worried.

The boat had finally stopped. A pair of large, silent thugs came and dragged Dexter and Ziva topside. The bright tropical sunlight was blinding. "Put them in the hut" said a voice of authority from somewhere in the brightness.

"Has anybody seen Dexter today?" asked Debs between bites of powdered sugar doughnut. "He's probably working with those feds. They fucking hate me" complained Masuka. "Did you see where they found that guy in the dumpster that had been tortured to death? Man, whoever worked him over was a real serious professional!" Debs went back to eating her doughnut.

The hut was small and bare. Kind of like the shack he'd kept Doaks in, Dexter thought. One of the goons came in and cut Ziva loose with a very large knife. He started to drag her outside. Dexter went "hey, what are you doing with her?" and got a kick in his midsection for the trouble. Doubled over, gasping for breath, he heard Ziva yelling at someone in another language. Then a man's laughter. Other noises. He tried not to listen to those. Then screaming. But not Ziva's. The goon came back in and threw Ziva on the floor. She had a black eye, her mouth was bloody. But as soon as he left she rolled towards Dexter and smiled. "The ropes are looser. I think you can get me untied now". Dexter struggled to a sitting position and got back to work. It took a while, but eventually he freed her, then she untied him. "What now?" he asked"We wait till they come back in, then I jump them and take their guns, then I will kill the other man" she answered determinedly. "What do you mean, you jump them?" Dexter said, irritated. "I have the experience" Ziva replied. "I have as much experience as you do" Dexter countered hotly. "Oh, and how many people have you killed" Ziva said sweetly. "A couple of dozen, including my brother" The words came out of his mouth and hung in the air between them. "That was...unexpected" thought Dexter. Ziva looked at him searchingly. "I killed my brother, too…. My half brother. Ari…. We do what we have to do". She looked very serious. They did not have to wait long before the goons came back in. Both were quickly and silently rendered into lifeless piles of goon flesh.

The man was in the boat, with the case. He did not seem surprised when Ziva came up behind him with the gun. She made him walk out on the pier. "You can't kill me" he smiled, looking suave and dangerous. "No I can't" Ziva answered, "but he can". Dexter handcuffed the man to the railing. Ziva tried to hand the gun to Dexter but he shook his head and took out the very large knife he had taken from one of the goons. She went to stand on the beach, looking out over the water. Dexter was surprised at how much noise there was without duct tape available. When he was through, Ziva walked up and spit on the corpse. She had been crying.

He had been a trusted friend of her fathers, an unwanted suitor. As soon as the virus had been taken Ziva had known who was behind it. But this had to be dealt with quietly.

Ziva came up on deck with a cup of hot tea for Dexter. Since they had gotten away Dexter had been eating and drinking everything he could lay his hands on. The tea was sweet, and very strong. "What was it like...your brother?" Dexter asked tentatively, his eyes fixed on the horizon. "It was my...duty" Ziva answered slowly. "Do you still have nightmares?" "Yes" A period of silence followed. "What happens when we get back to Miami?" "That depends on you" Ziva answered "it would be better if nothing happened, no press, no public reports, nothing" she continued". We never met each other".

Dexter got out at the marina; then Ziva took the boat and its dangerous cargo back to the boatyard. She would deal with Gibbs. Dexter would deal with...nothing, because nothing had happened. Or at least that was the official stance.

Debs was pissed off. "Those feds just waltz in here, take over our case and then leave and all we're told is its national fucking security!""What a bunch of dicks."" The Tony guy was hot, though, I wish he had stayed around longer""

At his desk, Dexter was futility was trying to block out Deb's stream of invective while typing a message to Abby "I never really got to see your friends while they were here, the boss kept me too busy. I love the new single, thanks for sending me the link!"


End file.
